All the team news and views ahead of this weekend's games.

Dundee manager Barry Smith believes his side can take heart from their 2-0 Boxing Day defeat to Celtic.

He said: "It's not as though we were heavily defeated. We gave a good account of ourselves so we have every right to take confidence from that into the Aberdeen game. We lost to a quality side. We all want to get off the bottom of the table so this game with Aberdeen can't come quickly enough for everyone concerned."

Winger Nicky Riley is set to return. Captain Stephen O'Donnell suffered no adverse reaction to his long-awaited comeback in midweek so is preparing to lead the Taysiders out. The hosts are still without Davide Grassi, Carl Finnegan, Mark Kerr (all knee), and Jamie McLuskey (Achilles), but midfielder Iain Davidson is free to return after suspension.

Aberdeen's Craig Brown has warned his players not to underestimate Dundee. He said: "The lads have been left in no doubt that the result the other day [4-1 at Motherwell] was unacceptable. We must atone for that.

"We know that Dundee will be up for this game. They're running out of fixtures and other clubs above them are picking up points, so they have to get a response. After a good performance against the Old Firm they'll be fairly confident.

"We've got to make sure they don't get a result against Aberdeen. But my concern is not Dundee. My concern is keeping Aberdeen in contact with the top, because I genuinely feel with everyone fit we've a great chance of going on an unbeaten run."

Motherwell manager Stuart McCall is looking forward to meeting up again Kenny Shiels.

McCall said: "Kenny is interesting, I see him at a lot of games and bounce matches. He's a football man, he studies and is enthusiastic about the game and I get on fine with him. We've never had a cross word during games and he is always in afterwards for a cup of tea."

Simon Ramsden has shaken off a calf knock in time to face Kilmarnock.

The Well defender had to come off with the injury during the 4-1 home win over Aberdeen on Boxing Day.

However, manager Stuart McCall said: "Ramsden has recovered from the injury he came off with at half-time, he is in contention."

Kilmarnock striker Cillian Sheridan is looking to return to their preferred style of football against Motherwell, despite taking seven points from three games.

Sheridan returns to one of his former clubs and said: "I have good memories from it and I'm looking forward to going there. I learnt a lot. It was my first loan move so it was an eye-opener to life outside Celtic.

"It opens your eyes to things most clubs outside Celtic had - training facilities and pitches. But the benefit of it is that you're playing first-team football rather than friendlies or sitting on the bench. So it was a good move at the time.

"For the last two or three seasons Motherwell have been playing good attractive football. We try to as well. Maybe the last few games we haven't played as much football as we would have liked. Hopefully we can get back to that and it should be an entertaining game."

Manager Kenny Shiel is free to return to the dugout following a three-match ban. He has also dismissed reports linking midfielder Liam Kelly with a move to Derby.

Ross County v Hearts

Ross County manager Derek Adams has urged his players to complete an Edinburgh double and end the year on a high. The Highlanders claimed a 1-0 victory over Hibs at Easter Road on Boxing Day and now County welcome the capital city's other representatives.

Adams said: "We were delighted with the win against Hibs. The SPL is a difficult place to play and it was another good performance. This time, we got a good bit of fortune in winning and I think we deserved it. Hearts are a big, physical side and they like to get the ball into the penalty area quite quickly. I hope we can do the double as it sets us up perfectly for the New Year."

Ross County will be without Stuart Kettlewell. The midfielder was forced out of the Boxing Day win over Hibs with a hamstring problem.

Hearts manager John McGlynn hopes the likes of Ryan McGowan are still his players once the January transfer window closes.

With Hearts' financial woes and players entering the final six months of their contracts, including Andy Webster and captain Marius Zaliukas, McGlynn said: "Players like Ryan will attract attention. They're out of contract in the summer and the football club is not in a position to knock back good offers if they come in.

"Some players will probably go, if not in January, then at the end of the season. We're going to have to go through a transitional period right now and another one in the summer. That's how it will be."

McGlynn had no update on Hearts' challenge of the indefinite transfer embargo imposed by the SPL, but did reveal trialist Arturas Rimkevicius has returned home, for now. "Ross County will be in a buoyant mood after their victory at Easter Road, so that will make it a tricky game for us, but one I still believe we're capable of winning," McGlynn said. "If we can do that we'll move on to the 28-point mark and if by 10 o'clock on Jan 3 we have 31 points then I'll be happy."

St Johnstone v Inverness Caledonian Thistle

St Johnstone manager Steve Lomas hopes to end the year with a home win over a free-scoring Inverness side he believes to be "the team of the season" so far.

Lomas said: "We've had our ups and downs this season but our performances have mostly been good. However, those performances have not yielded the points that they should have so we hope to sign off this year with a win.

"Terry Butcher's team have been the team of the first-half of the season and all credit to him and his troops. They are a fantastic team and it will be a very tough game. If we are not at the races they will turn us over as they have turned over so many sides this season."

Lomas confirmed that Murray Davidson has been offered a new contract but denied any bid from Rangers for the midfielder, whose deal ends in the summer.

Steven Anderson and Chris Millar are doubts for St Johnstone. Midfielder Millar is touch and go with a groin injury which kept him out the 1-1 draw against Dundee United on Boxing Day. Defender Anderson is struggling with a knee complaint.

Inverness will continue to place the emphasis on outscoring their opponents as they travel to the last away venue at which they failed to find the net. Caley Thistle have scored in all 25 of their matches this season - for a total of 55 goals - but they drew 0-0 at McDiarmid Park on April 7.

Terry Butcher said: "Certainly that 0-0 was a great point for us, we were still trying to stay in the SPL. It is amazing how far we have come. The last 0-0 draw was against Dunfermline with three games to go. That gave us 33 points, which is what we are on now after 20 matches. We have a great amount of goals and we have surpassed last season's total. Nil-nil is a thing we don't do very often.

"If we did draw 0-0 it would send seismic shock waves through the SPL if we failed to score, because it has been a remarkable success story and we are making chances all the time. I spoke to the players and they said 'look gaffer, all we are concerned about is scoring more goals than the opposition'. That's a pretty basic way of looking at it but it is certainly working for us."

Inverness will assess the fitness of defender Josh Meekings. He missed the Boxing Day draw against St Mirren with a groin injury and could return. Nick Ross (shoulder), Simon King (ankle) and Chris Hogg (knee) are still short of fitness.

Sunday - Dundee United v St Mirren

Dundee United manager Peter Houston believes there is no better time to end their Tannadice hoodoo than now.

The Tangerines have failed to win at home since Aug 19, when they triumphed 3-0 over city rivals Dundee.

Houston said: "It would be the ideal way to finish the year. We're looking to get a home win for ourselves and, of course, for the fans. Our home form obviously hasn't been what we'd like and we should have taken more points from certain games this season. But there's no point dwelling on it too much. What we have to try and do is go out there and get the three points which would make everyone associated with the club happy."

United full-back Keith Watson hopes to recover in time to face the Buddies after picking up a shoulder injury in the Tayside derby.

Winger Gary Mackay-Steven is still out of action after breaking his hand while Sean Dillon is set to be sidelined again as he struggles to get over a thigh injury.

St Mirren manager Danny Lennon has backed Paul McGowan to have a major role to play in the second half of the season now that he is back in action. The playmaker made his comeback in the Boxing Day draw at Inverness after being sidelined since September with a shoulder injury.

Lennon said: "It has given everybody a lift just getting Paul back into training. We managed to get him back two games ahead of schedule and we will assess him and see how he is. He will be a massive influence in this sprint now until the end of the season."

However, the Paisley club will be without Kenny McLean for a number of weeks after he underwent minor knee surgery on Friday. Marc McAusland and Jim Goodwin are both back from suspension, while Paul Dummett could also come into contention after missing the Boxing Day draw at Inverness with a muscle complaint.

Lennon said: "Dundee United beat us narrowly 1-0 here the last time with a late penalty after us taking the game to them. It's important that we bring all our key strengths. Dundee United perhaps don't start the first half of the season particularly well but we know, over their history, that they finish extremely well on top. That's something we must be aware of. Hopefully we've got them in the right half of the year."